Faulty software update causes chaos worldwide – Times News Online

NEW YORK (AP) — A faulty software update caused technological chaos around the world Friday, grounding planes, shutting down some financial firms and news organizations and disrupting hospitals, small businesses and government offices.

The scale of the outages underscored the fragility of a digitalized world that relies on just a few providers for essential computer services.

The problem was caused by an update released by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and affected only customers running Microsoft Windows, the world’s most popular personal computer operating system. It was not the result of a hack or cyberattack, according to CrowdStrike, which apologized and said a fix was on the way.

Businesses and governments around the world experienced hours of disruption — their computer screens glowed blue with error messages — and they scrambled to fix the fallout. CrowdStrike’s CEO said some of its systems will require time-consuming manual fixes.

Thousands of flights were canceled and tens of thousands were delayed, leading to long lines at airports in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America. Airlines lost access to check-in and booking services in the middle of the summer season. By late afternoon Eastern Time, the worst appeared to be over, although cancellations and delays continued as the disruption cascaded.

Several local U.S. television stations were unable to broadcast news Friday morning, and some state and local governments reported problems at courts, motor vehicle departments, unemployment offices, 911 centers and other offices. But most systems were back to normal as the day progressed.

The affected hospitals had problems with their appointment systems, forcing them to suspend patient visits and cancel some surgeries.

Alison Baulos said her 73-year-old father’s heart surgery in Paducah, Kentucky, was canceled Friday morning because of the outage, leaving her family fearful and worried.

“It really makes you realize how dependent we are on technology and how scary it is,” Baulos said. She said her father waited at Baptist Hospital to hear what would happen next.

American Express said there were temporary issues processing transactions, while TD Bank responded to online complaints by saying it was working to get customers back into their accounts.

In New York City’s Times Square, just before 12:30 a.m., the blue “recovery” screens that appeared on laptops appeared on several giant electronic billboards. A few were dark Friday afternoon.

A reminder of vulnerability

Cyber ​​expert James Bore said there would be real damage. “All of these systems are running the same software,” Bore said. “We’ve made all of these tools so widely available that when something inevitably goes wrong — and it will, as we’ve seen — it’s going to go wrong on a massive scale.”

CrowdStrike said in a recording on its customer service line that the problem was related to “the Falcon sensor,” referring to one of its products used to block online attacks. The company says it has 29,000 customers.

In an interview on NBC’s “Today Show,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz apologized, saying the company “deeply apologizes for the impact we’ve caused to customers, travelers and everyone affected by this, including our businesses.”

“We know what the problem is” and are working to fix it, Kurtz said. He noted, however, that it could take “some time” for certain customers, particularly those who don’t have in-house expertise.

While CrowdStrike’s update was automated, the fix requires manual work, such as deleting corrupted files, which can take days or longer for some customers, according to Forrester analyst Allie Mellen.

“Given that CrowdStrike has a lot of customers, a lot of Fortune 500 customers, and they probably have millions of (computers) under management, this creates a bigger problem,” Mellen said. “It’s going to be a long, drawn-out process.”

Ann Johnson, corporate vice president and deputy chief information security officer at Microsoft, said late Friday afternoon that “I would say that customers are receiving or have received the information they need and are getting the support they need — they understand it’s a very significant issue.”

She said Microsoft’s main focus is on getting customers back online, but she couldn’t estimate how long that might take.

Shares of CrowdStrike, based in Austin, Texas, closed down more than 11% on Friday. Microsoft’s stock fell less than 1%.

Cybersecurity experts said those affected by the outage should also be wary of malicious actors claiming to be able to help. “Attackers will definitely target organizations because of this,” said Gartner analyst Eric Grenier.

Air travel delayed everywhere

Thousands of flights were affected in the U.S. alone, though by late morning, East Coast carriers reported they were beginning to mitigate the issues and resume some service. Unclogging the system, however, will take time.

Airlines and railways in the UK faced long waits, and airports across Europe suspended landings or halted take-offs for several hours due to problems checking in passengers.

Saskia Oettinghaus, a member of the German Olympic diving team, was one of those stranded at Berlin airport.

“We are on our way to Paris for the Olympic Games and now we are standing still here for the time being,” said Oettinghaus.

In Cancun, Mexico, the top tourist destination on the Caribbean coast, 24 flights were canceled and 100 delayed, according to the state government.

Travelers wait in Terminal 1 to check in at Hamburg Airport in Hamburg, Germany, Friday as a widespread Microsoft outage disrupted flights, banks, media and businesses around the world Friday. BODO MARKS/DPA VIA AP

The logo for CrowdStrike and a Spirit Airlines web page are shown on a computer screen and a cellphone screen in New York City Friday. AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW